VacationSelector
The beach with its parasols and the boardwalk, Bethany Beach
Bethany BeachThe beach with its parasols and the boardwalk
Portofino and its bay from the hillside, Portofino
PortofinoPortofino and its bay from the hillside

Photos: Bethany Beach by Doug Olson, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Portofino by Michal Osmenda, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Bethany Beach or Portofino?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Bethany Beach for

  • families
  • prices
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Bethany Beach’s own page.

Choose Portofino for

  • day trips
  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Portofino’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Bethany Beach 72, Portofino 60: Bethany Beach leads by 12 points.
Food & drink. Bethany Beach 35, Portofino 36: Portofino leads by 1 points.
Culture & sights. Bethany Beach 10, Portofino 22: Portofino leads by 12 points.
Nightlife. Bethany Beach 12, Portofino 14: Portofino leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bethany Beach 48, Portofino 77: Portofino leads by 29 points.
Day trips. Bethany Beach 45, Portofino 76: Portofino leads by 31 points.
Good for families. Bethany Beach 66, Portofino 33: Bethany Beach leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Bethany Beach 33, Portofino 50: Portofino leads by 17 points.
Shopping & style. Bethany Beach 28, Portofino 29: Portofino leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Bethany Beach 30, Portofino 9: Bethany Beach leads by 21 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bethany Beach 14, Portofino 7: Bethany Beach leads by 7 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bethany Beach 33, Portofino 42: Portofino leads by 9 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bethany Beach and Portofino.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Bethany Beach
36match

Wins on families and prices with your weighting.

Portofino
38match

Wins on day trips and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Bethany Beach in July

31 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
95 mmrain in the month
23 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Portofino in July

27 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
32 mmrain in the month
24 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Bethany BeachPortofino

Where the figures come from

Bethany Beach's temperatures are measured 45 km from the centre, at Salisbury / Quail Ridge.

Bethany Beach has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Portofino's temperatures are measured 31 km from the centre, at Genova / Sestri.

Portofino has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bethany Beach: 1991-2020 normals, Salisbury / Quail Ridge (44.9 km from centre). Portofino: 1991-2020 normals, Genova / Sestri (31 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBethany BeachPortofino
Official language-Italian
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Euro (EUR)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCFL230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation3 m20 m
Main airportSalisbury Ocean City Wicomico Regional Airport (SBY)45 km from centre4 non-stop destinationsGenoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA)32 km from centre25 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBethany BeachPortofino
City population954355
People per km²318142
Museums within 10 km014
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02
Swim season, months above 21 °C3 months4 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bethany Beach or Portofino somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Ground elevations sampled from the Mapzen terrain tiles via OpenTopoData, merging SRTM, ASTER, NED, EU-DEM and national sources. Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.